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Mixer Wagons (Farming Simulator 15)
A Mixer Wagon is a multi-purpose device, which is important for any successful Cow and Sheep industry. The Mixer Wagon can prepare any type of feed or care for these animals. It can shred bales into their constituent materials, as well as mix different types of bales together to create Total Mixed Ration. The base game provides two different Mixer Wagon models. The most obvious difference between them is that one Mixer Wagon is self-propelled, while the other must be operated by a tractor. Capacity is also different between these two models. Both models, however, are objectively superior to a Bale Shredder - but considerably more expensive. List of Mixer Wagons Trailers These Mixer Wagons must be towed by a vehicle. Self-Propelled These Mixer Wagons have an engine, and can drive themselves around. Overview The Mixer Wagon is one of the most important tools for Cow and Sheep husbandry, and has two primary functions: * Shredding apart Bales of Hay, Straw and Silage, so that they can be used in animal husbandry. Bales are generally made for easy bulk storage, and may or may not be useable in that form. The Mixer Wagon can act as a shredder, to return the bales into a loose form of material that can be dumped into feeding troughs or sheds. * Mixing together Total Mixed Ration. This is the most potent type of Cow feed in the game, and requires an exact mixture ratio between Hay and Silage, which can only be created in a Mixer Wagon. Straw can be added to this mixture as a filler material, to increase its final volume. Mixer Wagons are generally loaded from the top, using a Front Loader. The Loader will generally be equipped with a Bale Spike, Bale Fork or Bale Handler for this task, if working with bales. Silage can also be dumped into the device with a Universal Bucket, or similar device. The Mixer Wagon will automatically shred and mix whatever materials are put into it. It can then dump the resulting material into troughs at the Cow Pasture or Sheep Pasture, into the Cow Shed, or into any of the Fermentation Bunkers on the map, depending on the material in question. The results may vary depending on the exact mixture within the machine at the time. Bale Shredding The simplest function performed by a Mixer Wagon is to shred apart Bales into a loose form of their constituent material. Straw bales will be shredded into 4,000 liters of loose Straw. Silage bales will be shredded into 4,000 liters of loose Silage. Hay bales will be shredded into 4,000 liters of loose Grass (and will function identically to Grass). To Shred a bale, simply drop it into the open top of the machine. The bale will disappear immediately, and the resulting material added to whatever is inside the tank. For straight-forward bale shredding, ensure that the device does not contain any material, or that it already contains some amount of the same material you're trying to produce. Otherwise, you might end up with a mixture of materials in your Mixer Wagon, which may or may not behave the way you want it to when dumped. Total Mixed Ration The second (and probably most important) function of a Mixer Wagon is to create Total Mixed Ration, or "TMR". This material is a mixture of Hay and Silage. It is the most potent type of Cow feed in the game. To create TMR, you will need to put in the correct amount of material together into the same Mixer Wagon. The total amount of either substance must not exceed 75%, nor fall below 25%, for the resulting mixture to be considered TMR. If the ratios are not correct, the resulting material is called "Forage", and will not behave the same as TMR when dumped into a Cow feeding trough. Although Straw is not a required substance in the TMR mixture, it can be added as a filler material. Straw is very easy to produce (since it is a free byproduct of Wheat and Barley harvesting), so it can be added to increase the amount of TMR produced without a lot of extra work. However, you must not have more than 40% Straw in your mixture, and the amount of Hay and Silage must each stay above 25%, otherwise the mixture will not be TMR. Total Mixed Ration is the most potent type of Cow Feed in the game. While Cows are feeding on this substance, their productivity level will be 90%, or 100% with Straw bedding in the cow shed. This substance is the only way to achieve 100% cow productivity. Without it, Cows cannot surpass 80% productivity. As long as Cows have at least 1 liter of TMR in their feeding trough, they will only consume that substance, at a steady rate. Unloading A Mixer Wagon with material inside it can only be unloaded at specific points. The option to unload will only become available if the Mixer Wagon is situated in the correct unloading point for the material it is carrying. Grass After shredding one or more Hay bales, they turn into an equivalent amount of loose Grass. This grass is a feeding material that can be dumped into either the Cow or Sheep feeding troughs, just like normal mowed grass. Of course, since the shredded Hay is not superior in any way to regular Grass, the effort taken to create that Hay (using a Tedder, and whatever other device was required) would have been completely wasted. You can also dump Grass into any of the Fermentation Bunkers on the map (they are found at either the Cow Pasture or Biogas Plant). This is only possible if the bunker is not currently full, does not contain any Silage, and is not currently covered with plastic. Grass can also be sold directly out of a Mixer Wagon. To do this, you'll need to unload it at either a Grass Heap or at a special barn found in your farmstead. In both cases, the result is identical to selling freshly-mowed Grass out of a Loading Wagon. Straw Shredding one or more Straw bales will turn them into an equivalent amount of loose Straw. This Straw can be used as bedding for the Cow Shed, by unloading it next to (or inside) the shed. As long as cows have some bedding available, their productivity increases by a small amount, and they produce Manure at a steady rate. They also consume Straw at a steady rate, so it will need to be refilled periodically. Straw can also be sold directly out of a Mixer Wagon. To do this, you'll need to unload it at a special barn found at your farmstead. This is identical to selling Straw out of a Loading Wagon. Silage When a Silage bale is shredded in a Mixer Wagon, it will create 4,000 liters of loose Silage. The foremost use of such loose Silage is to feed it to cows, by dumping it into a Cow feeding trough. Loose Silage can be dumped into a Fermentation Bunker that already contains some Silage. Afterwards, other machinery can use that Silage, or it can be taken to be sold at the Biogas plant. However, note that shredding a bale of Silage into loose Silage wastes a part of it - since a Bale Silage is equivalent to 6,423 liters when dumped directly into the sale point, whereas shredding will turn it into only 4,000 liters. Forage Forage is a mixture of any two or three of the above materials, that does not contain the correct ratio to become Total Mixed Ration. Forage can be dumped into either the Sheep or Cow feeding troughs, but will behave very differently in each case. Dumping Forage into the Sheep Trough is identical to dumping the same quantity of loose Grass into that trough. This is true even if the Forage was made without any Grass in it. Dumping Forage into the Cow Trough is more complicated: instead of dumping it as a single material, the game will actually treat it as being the separate materials from which it was made. For example, if we make a mixture of 4,000 liters of Straw and 4,000 liters of Silage, and dump the resulting mixture into the Cow feeding trough, the game will treat it as though we had dumped exactly 4,000 liters of Straw as bedding, and 4,000 liters of Silage as feed - even though these substances are supposedly mixed together! Total Mixed Ration TMR, as explained in the previous chapter, is a mixture of at least Hay and Silage in specific quantities, possibly also including some Straw. As with Forage, the mixture can be dumped into both the Sheep and Cow feeding troughs, with different results. Again, dumping this substance in the Sheep trough is the same as dumping an equivalent quantity of simple Grass. This is incredibly wasteful, as the effort gone into creating the TMR will have been wasted. Feeding TMR to Cows is far more profitable, as explained in the previous chapter.Category:Farming Simulator 15 Mixer Wagons Category:Farming Simulator 15 Shop